Elastic tan-through garment

ABSTRACT

Garment snugly fitting to a body, in particular a bathing suit, having a front section (1), a back section (2), a crotch section (4) and at least one suspended section (5), the front section and the back section being circularly knitted substantially in a hose-like configuration from elastic yarn which over the extend of the garment is knitted at different tensions and/or mesh sizes, so that the garment follows the contour of the body, the elastic yarn in each row consisting of an elastic core yarn and at least one surface yarn covering it.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field Of The Invention

The invention relates to a garment fitting snugly to a body, inparticular a bathing suit having a front section, a back section, acrotch section and at least one suspender section, the front section andthe back section being circularly knitted in a substantially hose-likefashion from elastic yarn which over the extend of the garment isknitted at different tension and/or mesh size so that the garmentfollows the contour of the body, the elastic yarn in each row consistingof an elastic core yarn and at least one surface yarn covering

2. The Prior Art

As a rule, in garments, particularly in bathing suits which are to fitsnugly to the body of their wearer, front and back sections are made oftwo parts which are sewn together at their side. Openings at least inthe region of the upper thighs or hips and at shoulder sections arefabricated manually. Such a design suffers from the disadvantage ofbeing very labor intensive because front and back sections have first tobe cut and sewn together so as to conform to a body and before they aresewn together. The seems are bothersome and impede an optimal fit of thegarment on the body. Finally, the desired snug fit of the garment to abody and its elasticity are not always ensure because of the hithertoused yarns and because the cloth is usually stretched on a frame andsubjected to a heat-treatment whereby the memory of the cloth and of thegarment made with it are reduced.

A garment of the kind mentioned in the introduction is also known fromEP-A1-0,599,266, which may also be used as underwear and which isprovided with long sleeves, the garment being provided with zones ofdifferent knits and stretch properties in its sleeves as well as in thewaist and chest zones, in order to provide improved conformity to abody. Moreover, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,246 to manufacture,for instance, of one-piece circularly knitted bathing suits, stockings,brassieres and the like with different mesh structures varying the sizeof the meshes in certain zones, using covered spandex yarns on circularknitting machines, for the accommodating body curves.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a garment of the kindreferred to in the introduction which ensure while providing animpeccable snug fit on a body may be made in a simple and cost-efficientmanner in a modern production operation and which may be provided withtransparent zones.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The garment in accordance with the invention is characterized by thefact that it is opaque and that it has transparent zones, whereby theelastic core yarn, preferably a spandex yarn, is covered by a polyamideyarn of fine titer applied by twisting and that in the opaque zone onlyan additional surface yarn of polyamide, preferably nylon, is applied tothe covered elastic core yarn.

The core yarn may be covered by the finely-titered polyamide yarn in Zor S twists and may be of nylon, preferably nylon 66. The additionalyarn ensures that a garment used as a bathing suit will dry quickly, isabrasion resistant and may be uniformly dyed.

The garment in accordance with the invention may be made in a mannerconforming to a body by substantially a single operating cycle, so thatonly the crotch section, the openings in the upper thigh or hip zone andthe suspended section will have to be made manually. Any cutting andsewing of the front and back section is avoided.

In accordance with a further characteristic of the invention, the entirecircularly knitted garment is penetration dyed as one piece in aconventional manner. Preferably, the garment also is exhaust processedto be UV-B absorbent.

The support or core yarns used in the context of the inventionpreferably are spandex (elasthan) yarns such as Lycra®, which areresistant against salt water and chlorine and which are zinc-free. Inthe context of the invention, textured yarns, smooth yarns or highlystretched yarns such as micro fibers, multi-filament and standardfilament yarns may be used as surface yarns.

The core yarn is protected either by thin yarn threads (of e.g. 16Denier) tightly wound around it in Z or S twists (for transparentzones), or the surface yarn of polyamide (of e.g. 40 Denier) is appliedby air mingling (for opaque zones). The core yarn may, however, also beprovided with the surface yarn by twisting, spinning and the like. Nylon66 (of e.g 120-140 Denier) is the preferred polyamide surface yarn oryarn thread.

It has been found that garments in accordance with the invention, thecloth of which is not tensioned over a stretch-frame, may belongitudinally stretched on an average by 140% and transversely onaverage by 325%.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained hereafter with reference to thedrawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view and

FIG. 2 is a schematic rear view of a garment serving as a bathing suitin accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The shown opaque bathing suit consists of a front section 1 and a backsection 2 integrally formed therewith by circular knitting of a hose.Openings 3 in the hip area and crotch extensions 4 defined by thesesections are made manually in the conventional manner. The shouldersections 5 are similarly made manually.

Since the bathing suit is of a one-piece construction made by acircularly knitted hose it has no seams in its circumference. Theproduced hose is penetration dyed.

In the circular knitting operation an elastic yarn is used for each row.In particular, the elastic yarn is provided with a core yarn, inparticular spandex (e.g. Lycra®) which is saltwater and chlorineresistant and which contains no zinc and which has predeterminedstress-strain properties. The spandex yarn is covered and protected byat least one surface yarn selected depending upon whether a garment isto be made with opaque and transparent zones or whether it is to beopaque all over.

In the depicted garment the core yarn is provided with a surface crimpedpolyamide yarn, for instance a fine fibril nylon, applied by airmingling (e.g. by an air intermingling machine), whereby the spandexyarn is pressed into the fibrils of the crimped yarn and is thusprotected by the crimped yarn. This process requires setting of specificcriteria such as, among others, structure and size of the air minglingjet, velocity, pressure and direction of the air current and the draft.A further surface yarn of polyamide or a yarn thread, such as nylon 66,may additionally be applied on the covered elastic core yarn.

In an opaque garment with transparent zones, not shown, the core yarnhas only by a fine surface yarn of polyamide wound around it relativelytightly in left/right twists, and in the opaque region it is providedwith an additional surface yarn made of polyamide such as nylon 66.

It will be understood, that within the ambit of the general inventiveconcept the embodiments described above may be altered, particularly inrespect of the yarns used and their composition.

What is claimed is:
 1. A garment of the kind fitting snugly to a body,comprising:a front section and a back section seamlessly joined togetherby circular knitting of a plurality of rows of meshes of differingtensions and sizes to form a hose-like structure having first and secondopen ends provided with at least one transparent portion formed by anelastic core yarn covered by finely titered polyamide yarn tightlytwisted around the core yarn and at least one opaque portion formed byan elastic core yarn covered by a finely titered polyamide yarn tightlytwisted around the core yarn and an additional surface yarn made ofpolyamide applied to the covered core yarn; means for forming asuspender section at one of the first and second open ends; and meansfor forming a crotch section substantially in the center of the other ofthe first and second open ends thereby to form two openings.
 2. Thegarment of claim 1, wherein the elastic core yarn comprises a spandex(elasthan) yarn.
 3. The garment of claim 2, wherein the polyamide yarncomprises nylon
 66. 4. The garment of claim 3, wherein the polyamideyarn forms a Z twist around the core yarn.
 5. The garment of claim 3,wherein the polyamide yarn forms an S twist around the core yarn.
 6. Thegarment of claim 1, wherein the hose-like structure, the suspendedsection and the crotch section are penetration dyed in one piece.
 7. Thegarment of claim 1, further comprising means for absorbing UV-Bradiation.
 8. The garment of claim 7, wherein the means for absorbingthe UV-B radiation is applied by an exhaust process.